Apple retroactively subsidizing iPhone battery replacements

Apple has officially extended its $50 subsidy of out-of-warranty iPhone battery replacements to those who had their device repaired from January 1, 2017.

The discount officially went into effect last December 28 and is to last through this December 31, but US lawmakers have been urging the company to make the discount retroactive. It applies worldwide to work done on iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone SE, iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus units at an Apple Store, Apple Repair Center or an authorized service provider.

The company will alert customers determined to be eligible through email with the process concluding by August 1. Those who did not receive an email, but believe they are eligible for the credit can contact the company by December 31 to provide proof of service.

The company is currently pricing labor and parts for the procedure at $29 in the United States as part of an apology to consumers for not clearly disclosing that it had throttled the performance of older iPhones through two iOS software updates to protect the health of the battery and prevent thermal overrun and random shutdowns — such issues were being reported in late 2016 and were first addressed with the iOS 10.2.1 update in early 2017.

Jules Wang is News Editor for Pocketnow and one of the hosts of the Pocketnow Weekly Podcast. He came onto the team in 2014 as an intern editing and producing videos and the podcast while he was studying journalism at Emerson College. He graduated the year after and entered into his current position at Pocketnow, full-time.